Excuses
by Thrushsong k'Varis
Summary: Ran overhears Conan use a swear word and demands to know where he learned it. Conan can only think of one excuse.
1. Chapter 1

Note: in this fic- _this means thoughts_

Happy reading!

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Conan yelped in surprise as his foot slipped and sent him tumbling down the Agency's staircase, his backpack sliding off as he fell. He sat up with a hiss of pain, and couldn't help cursing as the pain only increased as he scrambled to rescue the contents of his backpack before they were ruined by the wet puddles all over the stairs.

"F #*!"

"Conan-kun! Where did you learn that word?!"

"R-Ran-neechan…"

"Do you know what that word means? Don't you dare try to lie to me Conan-kun."

Conan winced. _Crap, I can't tell her I know; a seven-year-old wouldn't understand that. Where would Conan have heard curse words…ah!_

"It means…um…that you're upset, right? I heard Nakamori-keibu yell it at KID when he gets caught in a really big trap!" _Please believe me Ran, I can't think of anything else!_

Conan fidgeted as Ran continued to frown at him, "I didn't think it was a mean word, honest! KID just laughed when Nakamori-keibu said it!"

Thankfully, Ran's frown lessened slightly. "Alright Conan-kun, I believe you. But if I ever hear you saying that word again, you'll be grounded for a month."

"Yes, Ran-neechan, I promise I won't say it again." _Though, now that I think about it, I've actually heard Nakamori-keibu say a lot worse…_

"I knew going to those KID heists wouldn't be good for you. You won't be going tomorrow night."

"But—Ran-neechan!"

"No, Conan-kun. I don't want you getting more bad ideas. You're lucky I haven't washed your mouth for saying that word."

Conan sighed, and trudged inside to start his homework. _I'll have to come up with a plan to get her to let me back at KID heists..._

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AN: How was it? R&R please!


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to all readers and those who reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. Special thanks goes to **CoconutYanK9** ; their review inspired me to continue this story :)

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Conan was glad to be able to go to heists again. It was great being able to exercise his brain without someone dying. Also, kicking soccer balls at Kaitou KID was amazing stress relief. When he got to the rooftop, expecting their usual battle of wits, he was momentarily thrown off by KID's question.

"Hey, Tantei-kun, do you know what's wrong with Nakamori-keibu tonight? He's much less enthusiastic than usual."

"Really? He seemed fine to me." _He yelled at his usual ear-bursting level, ordered his men to chase KID, all the usual really._

"Hmm, I suppose you wouldn't notice, Tantei-kun, but he was much less, ah, _explicit_ , tonight."

Conan blinked. "Oh. He started off the same way, and I promised Ran-neechan I wouldn't listen to anything Nakamori-keibu yells at you ever, so I didn't notice." _She finally let me go to heists after that, even though she'd yelled at Nakamori-keibu for that long the day of that heist I missed and still wouldn't let me go._ "It's probably because Ran-neechan went in and yelled at him for 'using foul language in front of impressionable children'." _If I was really that impressionable she should be yelling at her father all the time…_

KID stared at him. "You're telling me your Neechan went into Division Two and _out-yelled_ Nakamori-keibu?!"

"I'm not sure about out-yelling him, but," Conan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I think she broke his desk." _It was definitely broken. The whole division bullpen heard the dying scream as she killed the desk._

KID actually gaped at him for a moment. "She—but—how—Tantei-kun, he has a _steel desk_."

Conan shrugged in response, "Ran-neechan is a karate champion. Shinichi-niisan told me she can bend telephone poles with a punch." _She literally_ broke one _bare-handed before she decided she shouldn't cause the repairmen too much trouble._

"You're joking," KID said flatly.

"Nope. She breaks the walls sometimes when her dad really makes her mad."

"Tantei-kun, remind me never to get on your Neechan's bad side."

Conan just smirked at him, and KID promptly made his escape before Tantei-kun actually decided to send the karate champion after him.

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I leave to your imagination what the desk looked like after Ran killed it. :D

R&R please, hope you continue to enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

So, fair warning, this chapter got kind of...angsty?...depressing?

I was planning to have Ran sent after KID as a prank, but then Conan went 'I have an _actual_ reason to send her after KID.' This is the result. Also, fake medical science here, though I'm not sure why I'm warning for that; if you get medical info from fanfics you need to rethink your research methods.

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Conan was furious. (He may also be focusing on the anger instead of the hurt and betrayal, but he'd never admit it.) He'd had to fake unconsciousness until he could control himself, because after Ran's last reaction it would be very bad if he cussed as much as he'd wanted to in that moment. Also, the actual children (plus Haibara) would never let him hear the end of it. So he'd forced himself to lay still and try to deduce who had been KID. He hadn't heard the thief's voice or footsteps during the blackout; the only warning had been a split second sense of sharp intent before he'd been knocked out. Even listening to the Taskforce track KID for over an hour thanks to sticking KID's own card to the thief's back had in no way lessened his fury. (KID probably should have thrown them off sooner, but to be fair, Conan didn't think anyone had tried marking KID's disguise before.)

Haibara had told him after the kids had been dropped off that she needed to examine him, because he was lucky not to be dead. His heart had major issues after changing to Shinichi and back so many times; she'd explained. It was one of the reasons Haibara refused to give him an antidote for months after he'd taken the last one. She'd told him after her examination that he'd need to be careful not to run around too much for at least two weeks, to avoid putting further strain on his heart and giving himself a heart attack.

He was seriously considering never going to another heist; KID had to have known how dangerous it could be (though he wouldn't have known Conan had heart problems), stun-guns were _not_ safe to use on children.

"—Kudo-kun?"

Blinking as he was dragged out of his thoughts, he responded, "Sorry, what was that?"

She held out a bottle of pills, "You'll need to take these to help stabilize the arrhythmia, once a day until I tell you otherwise. It's worrying that you're this affected, if your body doesn't stabilize itself the next antidote you take could kill you."

"I understand." He paused as a thought struck him, "Haibara, what do we tell the kids?"

"The truth." She narrowed her eyes at him, "That you have heart problems and KID made you sick, so you can't run around getting in trouble."

"As if being sick would matter. You know how my luck works, Haibara."

"Then when your luck strikes for the next few weeks or so, the Shounen Tantei will have to do the running for you."

Conan didn't bother stifling the groan as he imagined getting the kids to investigate properly instead of charging off with their wild conclusions. "You better help me with them."

Haibara just smirked at him, "You should head home, before Mouri-chan sends a search party."

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Hope you liked it.

Next up: Conan talks to Ran.

(Not much written at the moment, so it might take a while to post again.)


	4. Chapter 4

Summary: Ran hears about what went down at the Kirin's Horn heist.

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"I'm back," Conan called halfheartedly as he toed off his shoes.

"Conan-kun! How was the heist? The TV stopped showing the live video after the blackout, and afterwards they only reported that KID escaped again."

"Ah, well," Conan swiftly explained how KID had disguised as Nakamori-keibu and the trick he'd pulled off to steal Kirin's Horn, "and then he got me with a stun gun and hid the Horn in my hood."

"WHAT?!" Conan winced at the shout. _Yeah, probably should have expected that._

"Ah, I'm okay, Ran-neechan, Hakase had a doctor check, and they gave me this!" He pulled the bottle of heart medicine Haibara had given him out of his pocket. "The doctor said I need to take this every day and be careful not to run around too much so I don't tire myself out."

Ran took the bottle and examined it, "Conan-kun, do you know what these are for?"

 _I can't exactly tell her I have arrhythmia, it'd be odd to know about since I've never mentioned having heart problems..._ "It's because I have a weak heart, and the medicine will help it get better from the stun gun."

"Conan-kun, I'll hold on to these and remind you to take them, okay?" Ran carefully set the bottle of pills on the nearby table.

"Okay, Ran-neechan!" _At least that way she might worry less about it._

"And, Conan-kun?" Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end at her tone of voice. The tone that said: 'you're lucky I've decided not to break _you._ '

"Y-yeah?" _Please don't be angry, Ran, it's not my fault KID had a stupid plan._

"If you still want to go to KID heists, you're going to take me with you and tell me what KID's disguise is so I can have a _talk_ with him." Her deathly sweet tone merely confirmed that the talk would not be remotely friendly.

"I will." Conan's shoulders slumped in relief as Ran's deadly aura vanished, and then added quietly, "Thank you." _For caring about me; for threatening KID for me; and letting me choose if I want to go back to heists._

Ran smiled at him, "Get some rest, okay, Conan-kun? I'll let your friends know you're staying home sick tomorrow."

"But I'm fine, Ran-neechan, we were going to play Hakase's new game together." _I really don't want to be stuck in bed all day because of this…_

"Conan-kun, you're staying where I can make sure you're resting." _Oi, I said I can't run too much, that doesn't mean I'm not supposed to move._

Conan pouted at her, "But, Ran-neechan…"

"You're staying, Conan-kun. I'll let you read that new Detective Samonji novel, but you're staying home."

He grinned at that; she'd taken the book away before because it was 'too violent' for children. "Goodnight, Ran-neeechan," Conan heard her reply 'goodnight' as he went to get ready for bed, already looking forward to being able to read openly and without interruption for once.

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Next up: return of the protective older sister!

I'm still deciding if I want to reference a specific heist next chapter…maybe Ryoma?


	5. Chapter 5

The POV switches from Ran's to KID's after the ~K~

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Ran watched in surprise as the Ryoma exhibition was soaked by fire sprinklers, and several people pushed past her and Sonoko to get out of the spray. When the sprinklers turned off, KID had vanished from the display case.

"Ran-neechan, hurry!" She blinked in surprise as Conan grabbed her hand and tugged her away from the Ryoma exhibition.

"Where are we going, Conan-kun? Don't you want to know why KID set off the fire sprinklers?"

"It's because he hid the notice of where he returned the fake items, remember Sonoko-neechan got paint on her sleeve? The sprinklers will wash the paint off KID's clues, and clean up the exhibition like in his note."

"Eh? KID was returning fakes? But…" Ran trailed off as she realized what Conan meant. The exhibition organizer must have been displaying fakes, and planning to blame KID for stealing the 'originals'.

"I'm going to find KID, I know who he's disguised as," Conan continued, and Ran blinked at the determined look on his face. "Ran-neechan, you wanted to talk to him, right? This way you can follow and catch him after he leaves!"

 _Well_ , thought Ran, _I suppose KID isn't all bad if he's exposing those shady men as frauds. But that doesn't mean I'm about to forgive him for what he did to Conan-kun._

Conan swiftly pulled her towards the museum exit, pointing out a large-looking man as he walked through the exhibit security check. Seeing her confused look, he quietly explained the clues he'd noticed that gave away KID's disguise.

As the man left the exhibition Ran followed, planning how to get him to talk to her. She found her opportunity as he turned into an alley, and she hurried to catch up to him.

"Wait, oji-san! I think you dropped this!" Ran called out as she got close enough, relieved that her plan worked as he stopped, and she quickly closed the distance between them.

The man turned to face her and frowned at the pen she held out to him, "I'm afraid you have the wrong person, ojou-san, it isn't mine."

Just as he turned away her right hand shot out and punched the wall inches in front of his face.

"Kaitou KID," she said darkly, "If you try to leave, the next one won't miss."

~K~

KID couldn't prevent his eyes from widening slightly as he heard a crunching sound from the wall. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see dust puffing out from around her fist. He quickly arranged his face in a mixture of nervousness and confusion as he asked, "Kaitou KID? You mean that mysterious jewel thief? Why would you think I'm him?"

Ran's eyes narrowed as she responded flatly, "Conan-kun pointed you out. And speaking of Conan-kun," Kaito felt himself pale under the latex mask as the karate champion's glare became even _more_ deadly as she continued, "what were you _thinking_ , using a _stun-gun_ on a _seven-year-old_?!"

He took a cautious step back and raised his hands in a (hopefully) placating gesture, "I made sure to modify it so that it would be safe to use on a child."

"That may be true," Ran responded, but before KID could defend himself she continued, "but that doesn't account for the fact that Conan-kun has a weak heart."

Kaito froze, shocked by the horrifying implication. _Oh, God, is that why he was out for so long? I could have killed Tantei-kun. Is he still hurt? Is that why he didn't try to stop me today?_

"Tantei-kun...is he…"

Ran huffed in annoyance, "He's mostly recovered. He has to be more careful not to run around, but the doctor apparently said it shouldn't be life-threatening unless something happens again."

She glared at him again and Kaito attempted to deflect her wrath somewhat, "I swear I'll never even think of repeating it. If I'd known…" seeing her glare intensify, he hastily changed tracks, "not that it should have made a difference, and in the future I'll definitely take any potential medical conditions into account to ensure nothing will hurt him." Kaito hesitated, but continued, "That is, if he's still planning to attend my heists?"

"You," she said sternly, "are lucky Conan-kun is even _thinking_ about it." Kaito started to relax slightly after hearing Conan (probably) wasn't holding a grudge, before Ran continued. "Even if he does decide to forgive you, if you ever hurt a single hair on his head I will break your hands myself."

Kaito could barely suppress the shudder as his mind presented an image of the bones in his poor hands being crushed to dust like what the karate champion had done to the wall earlier, and hastily nodded his agreement.

"Good," Ran said with a look of satisfaction, and walked away, leaving Kaito to recover his composure before beginning to make his way home.

 _I'd better start planning my apology note to Tantei-kun_ , Kaito thought as he walked toward the public restroom where he'd planned to drop his disguise. Considering Tantei-kun's probability of holding a grudge, he revised his plan, _Probably several notes_.

It occurred to him as he was changing out of his disguise that Tantei-kun had been at the heist and sent his Neechan after Kaito without even a warning, and had possibly attended the heist for the sole purpose of pointing out Kid's disguise and sending the karate champion after him.

 _Make that several dozen apologies._

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A/N: This chapter just refused to be written for a while...hopefully y'all enjoyed the way it turned out.


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